Gov. Steve Beshear, Mayor Greg Fischer and other officials gathered Monday to announce the name of the new downtown crossing of the Ohio River.

The new bridge will be called the Abraham Lincoln Bridge.

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By executive order, Beshear directed Kentucky Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock to issue an official order naming the bridge for the 16th president.

Beshear told the story of when a young Lincoln rode a steamboat from Louisville to Saint Louis, which was supposedly one of Lincoln's first encounters with slaves.

"The image of those slaves affected Lincoln profoundly and he later wrote that the memory tormented him for years. It strengthened Lincoln's belief that the institution of slavery was an abomination and, as we know, the rest is history," Beshear said.

Beshear said no Kentuckian has done more for the nation than Abraham Lincoln.

"Lincoln led our nation through its bloodiest and greatest constitutional and political crisis - the American Civil War," Beshear said. "But at the end of that national trauma, we remained a 'United' States of America. It's therefore fitting that we honor Lincoln's legacy with a bridge that further unites Kentucky, where he was born, with Indiana, where he emigrated as a youth and grew to adulthood."

The downtown crossing is part of the $2.3 billion Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

It will be the first of the two new bridges to open.

The Abraham Lincoln Bridge will eventually carry all northbound Interstate 65 traffic from Kentucky to Indiana. The existing John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge will be converted to carry only southbound traffic.

Beshear will cut the ribbon for the Abraham Lincoln Bridge on Dec. 5, and a public celebration will be held.

A date has not been set for the first vehicles to cross the bridge, but officials said it will be before Christmas.